


Resolve

by Wayfarer_Rye



Series: the Resovle of the Canidae [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Family, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, I Made Myself Cry, Kitsune, Kitsune do not have the same idea of helpful we do, Kitsunegeddon 2020, Magic, Multi, Naras' are just like that, Sort of? - Freeform, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, friends taking care of friends, so are Uzumakis
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:15:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26592763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wayfarer_Rye/pseuds/Wayfarer_Rye
Summary: Uzumakis' live interesting lives, that inspire a sort of trickster nature or favored by something of a trickster nature.Naras' like to fix things once they know things need to be fixed and they know and learn many things.Naruto Uzumaki and Shikamaru Nara's lives change because of these facts.
Relationships: Kyuubi | Nine-tails | Kurama & Uzumaki Naruto, Nara Shikamaru & Uzumaki Naruto
Series: the Resovle of the Canidae [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1934470
Comments: 13
Kudos: 131
Collections: Kitsunegeddon 2020





	1. Naruto is allowed a bad day

**Author's Note:**

> For Kitsunegeddon 2020
> 
> It isn't all completed, but I have a bit written but this will be a series, and this part isn't going to very long a few chapters maybe.
> 
> The next chapter should be in the next couple of days once I've edited it and figured out where I want it to stop at. I just can't keep staring at it.

**Lonely.**

Naruto knew the feeling before he knew the words to describe it.

(Years later people will hear about his childhood, and hearts’ will ache, teeth will grit, and names cursed)

Naruto doesn’t know that yet, what he knows is he is eleven years old staring at peeling paint on his (empty) apartment, hurting, but he doesn’t even have a bruise, (he checked).

The day at the academy had been normal, after all, quiet disdain from the teachers that weren’t Iruka-sensei, and his classmates either hated him or were apathetic towards him unless he was helping them skip was his normal.

Walking home, he kept to the shadows, trying to avoid the glares and disgusted looks.

_He didn’t understand, and it hurt._

Tears burned down his checks, pressing his hand into his chest, trying to ease the ache. Curling in on himself, he let himself sob.

_He wanted to stop hurting._

Warmth, an intelligible lullaby, broke through the loudness of the pain, and still a child no matter the force of maturity, Naruto soothed under into a deep warm sleep.

He dreamt of being cradled in fire red fur that smelt like a thunderstorm, of rumbling that sounded like thunder rocking him, he dreamt of words that would change his life, _“I am here. I will help. I am sorry.”_


	2. Naruto's never been really sick

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Panic, and finding problems.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know where I failed to edit. I am beyond tired.

Waking to sunlight shining through his window right on his face, Naruto sluggishly rolled off the couch and shuffled towards his bathroom.

Doing his business and then splashing some water on his face woke him up enough to notice.

There was this warmth running under his skin and his bones felt sore as if he had a hard taijutsu class.

Blinking, he began poking at his skin, wondering if this was what fever felt like; It’s not like he ever had one of those before.

Naruto remembered Kiba complaining about how his mom dragged him to the hospital because he got horribly sick. Saying something about men-awhatever, fever of the brain, or something.

Now Naruto didn’t have someone that would do that for him, and he didn’t want to go to the hospital just for him to be sent away for wasting their time, but he _never got sick._

He almost wanted to go find Iruka-sensei or bust into the Hokage’s office and ask either of them about it, but both were busy adults, and he wasn’t sure if it was something to worry about.

Biting his lip, Naruto needed a second opinion, ignoring the pang because he really didn’t have friends, but he knew someone that would probably be alone and would at least help him sort of.

Stumbling to his room, he grabbed the cleanest things he had, a pair of black pants and a dark green t-shirt (Iruka must have snuck them into his closet at some point, Naruto already feeling unsteady had to bat away some tears at that thought.)

Ducking out of his house, he took a roundabout route to where he hoped his target was.

Avoiding the bustle of the marketplace as other hot spots. Naruto wasn’t in the mood for glares.

It took an extra fifteen minutes then it should, even with going around because he kept having to stop because he got a little dizzy. Naruto nearly bent over in relief when he saw the pineapple-shaped hair relaxing on the hill. He didn’t because it would have been embarrassing for him to fall on his face.

Instead, he stumbled over, “Shikamaru,” oh, he sounded rougher than he expected.

* * *

Shikamaru jolted, “Naruto, what are you doing here?”

It surprised him that Naruto suddenly appearance; he didn’t usually seek him out unless they were in class. Naruto looked off, and it was kind of shocking to see him in something that wasn’t orange.

“I think I am sick, I feel warm and dizzy, but I have never been sick like that before, -ttebayo,” Naruto blurted out after a moment, “And I don’t want to waste anyone’s time if it is nothing, and you are pretty smart about remembering things so I wanted to ask if you could you know tell me if it is something that I should go to the hospital for.”

Shikamaru digested Naruto’s babble, then sighed, “Troublesome, okay, sit down before you fall down, you are wavering all over the place.”

This was worrying, Shikamaru has seen Naruto shrug off concussions without even a single waver.

“Thank you,” Naruto breathed as he flopped down, or maybe his legs gave out. Shikamaru wasn’t sure.

Shikamaru only shrugged at the thanks, “I am going to feel your forehead for a fever.”

He pressed the underside of his wrist on Naruto’s forehead, he frowned, Naruto was slightly warm to the touch, “You might have a fever, but it isn’t too hot, so it is probably just a small bug,” Shikamaru explained, though it didn’t quell his own worry. A small fever shouldn’t be causing Naruto this many problems. Shikamaru brushed back Naruto’s bangs mindlessly thinking. Letting his hand rest on the warm forehead.

* * *

Naruto leaned into the touch, he couldn’t help it, people didn’t touch him. He was too warm and achy to really care about showing weakness, (he might not have cared anyway, it was Shikamaru; he found pride to be Troublesome,). He just closed his eyes and enjoyed it while it lasted. He was tired.

_He felt safe._

* * *

Shikamaru blinked out of his spiral of worry when Naruto pressed against his hand as a cat would.

Oh. Right.

There was a reason Naruto searched him out, another kid and not an adult.

Shikamaru wasn’t blind, nor deaf. He knew something about Naruto angered most of them civilians, and the ninja wasn’t much better, but they weren’t as vitriol about it. Naruto didn’t have anyone in his life that would be casual about touching him or helping him. Not like Shikamaru, or the rest of their classmates.

He filed that away to figure out later, instead of focusing on what he could fix now, “Come on, you need to sleep the fever off,” Shikamaru grumbled as he stood up, brushing his pants off.

“Ok,” Naruto murmured, eyes still closed.

He helped Naruto stand up, stopping Naruto from face planting, Naruto leaned into his side. Shikamaru would have uttered a troublesome over the barring most of Naruto’s weight, but he was more concerned than bothered.

Usually, Naruto was loud and larger than life, so he didn’t pay attention to his size, but now when he was quiet, Shikamaru realized how small the other really was. He was concerningly light against Shikamaru for how much Shikamaru was basically carrying him.

Naruto probably aggravated his sickness from wandering across the village without a jacket on in the first place. Dazed and nearly sleepwalking, Naruto was not a help navigating. Thankfully, Shikamaru knew the way to Naruto’s apartment from the few times Naruto had pointed out while they skipped class together.

Taking a slow pace and avoiding people; it was a trek, but Shikamaru just muttered a troublesome here and there. He didn’t want to advertise Naruto’s vulnerability to people that might take advantage of that.

* * *

Reaching the apartment, Unsurprisingly Naruto had left the door unlocked in his dazed state.

Ignoring the slight mess, which was still cleaner than Chouji’s room, Shikamaru took in Naruto’s apartment.

_There was no life_ , Shikamaru’s first thought as he maneuvered them both into the apartment. He wasn’t sure what he had been expecting, but it wasn’t the sparse furniture and décor and dull peeling walls.

It didn’t feel like Naruto’s at all. It felt generic, but in a way that left a ball of s _omething_ settled in Shikamaru’s gut.

Frowning, he passed the single worn brown couch and led Naruto back to his bedroom. It wasn’t much better, just as barren, with only a bed and closet. The bedding was orange at least.

He directed Naruto on to the mattress, “Ergh” was Naruto’s only response to the fact he was now laying down.

Shikamaru pulled off Naruto’s shoes, setting this aside, and checked Naruto’s temperature one more time. Still slightly warm.

Ducking into the bathroom, he looked for a cloth, finding only a rag and a towel that had seen better days. He frowned harder.

Hoping there would be a better dishcloth, he checked the kitchen, finding it bare of most things, a few cookwares, a couple chipped dishes, and the food was either instant ramen or rice.

Finding a dishcloth that was passable, he wetted it down with cool water.

It connected some dots about why Naruto was so small. If he was mostly eating carbohydrates and salt. Kind of shocking that Naruto didn’t get sick before this from his unbalanced diet.

He walked back into Naruto’s room to find Naruto was lightly snoring; Which was a relief. Laying the cool cloth on his forehead, Naruto sighed sleeping on.

Returning out to the living room, Shikamaru pondered the depth that Naruto and his life turned out to have.

Fool on him for taking something at face value.

He found Naruto’s apartment key hanging on a frog style hook, the only thing in the main area that had any sort of color.

It gave Shikamaru an idea because **he couldn’t leave it as is now that he knew.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Meningitis if anyone is wondering. (Kiba was dehydrated but the symptoms are similar enough Tsume was worried but Naruto wouldn't know that)
> 
> Let me know.


	3. Shikamaru has Ideas.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Start Fixing Problems; Naruto still 'sick'.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know about Editing problems.

Naruto woke and groggily wondered if he dreamed of going to go find Shikamaru because he was back in his bed.

Groaning Naruto curled further into the blankets, he felt something slide off his forehead. Opening his eyes, it was one of his dish clothes Iruka-sensei bought him.

Blinking, Naruto touched it wondering if it was an illusion, it wasn’t. It was even still slightly cool to the touch. He heard footsteps out in the living room.

Sitting up too fast, had him falling back on the mattress regretting it, the ache he had been steadily ignoring flared to be front and center. Slowly sitting up, whoever was in his apartment must have heard him, because his door opened.

“Good,” Shikamaru greeted, “it would have been troublesome to try and wake you up.”

“Eh,” Naruto blinked suddenly, not sure if he was awake or not.

“You zoned out on me in the field, from the fever probably, so I brought you home,” Shikamaru explained.

Which didn’t explain why he was still here, Naruto could see it was late in the afternoon, and he was sure he went to find Shikamaru early-ish in the morning.

Shikamaru probably saw what he was thinking on his face, because he explained with a shrug, “I wasn’t going to leave you to be sick by yourself, you said you were never sick like this before, and it would be troublesome if you got sicker and didn’t realize.”

Naruto had to blink back some fever-caused tears, “Oh.”

* * *

Shikamaru knew there was no going back as soon as he entered Naruto’s apartment as the lonely lifelessness he had been living but staring at the teary Naruto who looked shocked that anyone would stay. He was glad for it.

“Come on, I got supper,” Shikamaru offered his hand to Naruto, who grabbed it like he was scared he was going to disappear or pull away. As he helped Naruto up, Shikamaru slipped his arm around Naruto to help him stay standing.

Moving at Naruto’s pace, he watched as Naruto kept glancing up at him with the same awe/fear, he ignored it because he doubted saying anything would reassure Naruto at this point; To fever muddled. 

They reached the living room, Naruto blinked slowly and then glanced at Shikamaru, “I am dreaming?”

“No, you aren’t dreaming,” Shikamaru figured that was a fair question.

It was almost a different apartment than when he had entered this morning.

He had run home, and after avoiding some pointed questions from his mom, he was able to grab some things to help with his idea, as while grabbing a thermometer and some fever tea herbs.

The rest of his morning spent cleaning, and then in the afternoon, he spent adding life to the place.

He scrounged up some of the gifts people that didn’t know him gave him over the years as the Nara Clan heir.

A couple of framed flower art (he got yearly from the same Yamanaka elder without fail) that he hung carefully on the walls.

A rather bright red blanket (he was pretty sure it came from a merchant that was trying to suck up to his dad through him) that was too bright for his taste but was big enough to cover the dull brown couch covering the old worn thing.

He also found a plain desk and coffee table that two of his clansmen were planning to get rid of but never got around to it. It was a pain to get them trying to avoid some curiosity, but he did, and they didn’t look too bad in his opinion. He thanked storage seals because he didn’t want the questions about him dragging them across the village.

The desk was set up with some books he had double of, and some of his dad and his extra office supplies.

He had found Naruto’s class stuff while cleaning, and he was  _ disappointed _ . Not in Naruto but whoever had given him any of it, the textbooks were off and missing parts and the ‘helpful’ notes were the opposite. To the point, Shikamaru was sure they could be considered a murder attempt by how awful they were.

He had darted home and grabbed his own textbooks and pens, was currently copying and summarizing them into colorful organized notes.

Shikamaru reminded not for the first time that his mom was smarter than he usually gave her credit for when she shoved an orange-red spiral tablecloth in his hands before he left with his school stuff.

He explained this all to Naruto, who’s mouth dropped open and eyes got a little teary again.

“Why?”

He shrugged, “I had some troublesome things I thought you would like, and I knew I could help”

He led them both over to the tiny kitchen table with the recently gotten food.

It was just some soup he picked up from the Akimichi BBQ, enough for both and plenty of leftovers for the next few days while Naruto recovered from being sick. He dished them both out some portion taking a seat watching Naruto.

“Thank you,” Naruto whispered as he stared at the soup and his hand touched the tablecloth. They both knew that the thank you was more than just the soup or the stuff.

“Eat, I doubt you had breakfast and you slept through lunch, your body needs food if you want to get better,” Shikamaru pointed out, sipping his own soup.

  
  


* * *

Naruto finished half of his soup before his eyes began to droop, and he started feeling dizzy from being upright.

Shikamaru caught him before he could fall out of the chair, “Alright, come on back into bed.”

He nodded and let himself be guided back to bed. A cup of water was pressed into his hand before he could lay down. Drinking it, he handed it back.

“I don’t think I like being sick,” Naruto mumbled, as he snuggled into his blanket.

“I don’t think anyone does,” Shikamaru said, “I will be sticking around for a while if you need anything.”

Naruto hummed as he was already halfway to sleep.

* * *

  
  


Naruto slept, dreaming of protective shadows and haunting lullabies about deers, wolves, and foxes.


	4. Soft Shikamaru

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naruto wakes up, and Shikamaru attends classes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hmm, wasn't ecstatic about this chapter, so it has just been sitting around but I have been ignoring it long enough.

Naruto woke groggily, the feeling like his skin was too tight and too hot.

Groaning he rolled over, kicking his blanket away. Squinting, Shikamaru had dragged one of his kitchen chairs into his room, there was water, a folded note, and a book.

Noticing he was thirsty and dry-mouthed, Naruto sat up slowly, and grabbed the water and chugged it back.

Finishing it he set it aside, and then picked up the note.

_ Naruto, _

_ I borrowed your house key, and checked on you this morning, you were still running warm. _

_ Drink the water and don’t worry about classes. _

_ The book is something I thought you would like. _

_ Shikamaru. _

Naruto snickered hoarsely; it was just the kind of note Shikamaru would leave. Short and to the point.

Looking at the book, ‘A Tale of a Gutsy Ninja,’ did sound like something he would like.

Naruto rolled slowly to his feet, he knew he needed to eat even if he wasn’t feeling hungry.

He shuffled out of his room, the changes still throwing him off guard, still stunned that Shikamaru went out of his way to do this for him. Naruto noticed; a large paper bag sat on the table with another note beside it.

Reading the note first.

_ My mom says porridge is good when you feel ill. _

__

Naruto opened the bag and saw a bag of instant porridge, and a fancy Tupperware container that had a note that said ‘a minute in the microwave”

Naruto felt warm, not in the fever kind of way, but in the ‘ _ someone cares about me’  _ kind of way, as if he was  _ precious. _

He wasn’t sure what he did, or why to receive such care. It was something he would have to ask Shikamaru later.

Naruto gently got the porridge out, and shuffled to the microwave, taking the note and lid off.

His eyes caught on another note, this one over his sink.

_ Drink more water. _

__

Blinking, he grabbed a cup, and filled it with water, glancing around while sipping, there weren’t any more notes in the kitchen.

The microwave beeped, drawing his attention again. He opened it, and the porridge steamed. Grabbing a clean spoon, ( _ Shikamaru  _ had washed his dishes), he shuffled back to the table.

Eating slowly to savour it, and because eating too fast at the moment was probably asking it to reappear.

Finishing, he rinsed his dishes and shuffled towards his bedroom to grab some fresh clothes.

He needed to shower, he felt sticky and hoped that it would relieve some of the stretched too tight feeling.

Showering was a relief, but Naruto had to cut it short when he was leaning too far to one side. He put on his pants, and his back hurt too much for a shirt.

Already tired from being up and about, he shuffled back to bed, with a detour to grab some more water.

* * *

Shikamaru was annoyed, he should have convinced his parents to let him stick with Naruto instead.

He arrived early to tell Iruka about Naruto being sick, so Iruka didn’t go search out Naruto thinking he was skipping. It was only Iruka, Sasuke and him in the classroom.

“Sick?” Iruka was in disbelief.

Shikamaru shrugged, “He has a mild fever, and slept most of yesterday when I was visiting.”

Iruka had a flash of anger, before he became neutral, nodding, “Would you be okay to take his homework to him?”

Shikamaru blinked, but nodded, “That’s fine” he was already planning to check on him.

Iruka gave him a strange look, but Shikamaru didn’t explain further.

Iruka sighed and waved him towards his seat.

Shikamaru sat and laid his head down waiting for class to start. 

It was an exhausting class, everyone noticed Naruto was gone. Kiba and Sakura both asked about when Iruka was going to go hunt down Naruto.

“Naruto is excused from class today, and you don’t have the right to know why,” Iruka responded with a very stern look, “Now if the gossiping is done, I would like to get on with class.”

It lasted until lunch, most everyone went out to the yard to eat at this time of year. He followed and regretted it because it became a gossiping session. Everyone had an idea of why Naruto was gone, and Shikamaru had to walk away when some of the mean-spirited ideas came up.

He never wanted to imagine Naruto at the mercy of T&I. The fact that the person that brought it up seemed to revel in the idea, meant Shikamaru needed to walk away if he had to explain to his parents and Naruto why he was suspended from school. That would be troublesome.

He finished his lunch in the classroom, with the brooding but thankful silent Sasuke for company.

The rest of the classes passed quickly thankfully. 

After a quick conversation with Iruka about the homework, Shikamaru grabbed Naruto’s and darted toward his apartment.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading  
> I hope you enjoyed the story!  
> Let me know what you think and what your favorite part was,  
> If you want to more or just want to maybe suggest what I should write next, visit me at; https://ryeswritings.tumblr.com/


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